


10 Rings

by Fallenstar126



Series: Frerard stuff [14]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Kinda, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 13:45:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3571841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallenstar126/pseuds/Fallenstar126
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Frank first knew that he was gay, he planned to stay in the closet for most of his life. He couldn't imagine coming out to his mom, even though she might not be homophobic. The sheer amount of coming out horror stories had scared him out of it. So he was careful. He deleted his text messages, and kept his phone under a tough lock. He was safe. </p><p>Until he wasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	10 Rings

When Frank and Gerard first started going out, Frank knew it was a terrible idea. He knew that his mom would find out somehow, and it would be hell for everyone involved. That didn’t stop him from doing it, but he felt a rush of panic go through him each time his phone made a noise when his mom was around.

 

Frank was usually a careful kid. He deleted his texts after the conversation was finished, made sure his phone was on silent at night so his mom wouldn’t notice any good morning texts he happened to receive, or whom they were from. He had a password, and did everything he could to keep his mom out of his personal life.

 

However, sometimes, things fell through the cracks. Frank didn’t bring his cell phone with him to church retreats, because 1. There was nowhere to charge them, and 2. There was no service anyway, so what was the point? He just left his phone on his bed, and closed the door. It was off, so he didn’t have to worry about any incriminating messages coming in while he wasn’t there.

 

Except when he forgot to tell the person contacting him that he was going away. A person who just happened to have his home phone number. They also happened to be Frank’s boyfriend, who didn’t know about his possibly homophobic mother.

 

When he got home the following week, he immediately knew something was up. When his mom came to pick him up, she had a strange look on her face, curious but concerned at the same time.

 

Immediately, he felt panic settle in his gut. She approached him and nodded towards the car, not saying anything. Frank didn’t think she was upset though, because his mom wasn’t a quiet person when she was disappointed in him. If he fucked up, she let him know, and loudly.

 

Once they got his stuff into the car, and Frank had gotten comfortable in the passenger seat, he felt the panic slowly ebb away. His mom hadn’t said anything, and if the problem was that big, he doubted that she would have stayed quiet that long, even though they were in public.

 

“Here,” she spoke up suddenly, and Frank was jolted back into a state of panic as she pulled his phone out of her purse. “A boy has been calling the house every day this week asking for you, you better call him back. It seemed urgent.”

 

He stared at his phone with wide eyes, heart pumping so loudly he was sure his mom could hear it.

 

“Uh,” he started, and wanted to slap himself. Who starts a sentence with ‘uh’? “It can probably wait until we get home, I mean, I don’t want to miss some time with you!” Frank hoped that he sounded enthusiastic, but one look at his moms face told him that she didn’t buy a word of it.

 

“Frank-”

 

“Mom, please. It can wait, I promise. I just… I want to spend time with you, I feel like we don’t get to see much of each other anymore.” Frank could have drowned a bee with how much honey he was lathering on his words, trying to get her to believe him. He really did not want to have this conversation with his mom sitting right beside him. “Why don’t we go to McDonald’s and, I dunno, you can complain about your job and I can tell you about school.”

 

Frank knew he had won as soon as he saw the smile come on her face. “Well, I guess it would be nice. You’re always out with those friends of yours, I don’t see why we shouldn’t if you’re actually suggesting it.”

 

And with that, Frank avoided the most awkward phone call of his life.

 

That night, he snuck out through his window, swiftly climbing down the tree and grabbing his bike from its place beside the house. Frank knew he should have called Gerard back when he had gotten home, but his mom had a lot to say about him going to college, and they had spent much longer than Frank had expected at the restaurant.

 

Pedaling through the dark streets he could navigate with his eyes closed, Frank was running through what he was going to say in his mind. He didn’t have to worry about Gerard not being home, because the guy only ever left his basement when a new edition of Hellboy came out, and even then Frank had to remind him about it half the time.

 

Once he got to Gerard’s house, he dropped his bike in the pile of leaves next to the window, and knelt down to knock on it. He also knew Gerard was awake, because they had trained each other to be partially nocturnal, keeping one another up with late night texting sessions.

 

The curtain was pushed open, and Frank saw Gerard's paint splattered face for a split second, before the window was being opened and he was climbing inside.

 

Before Frank could even get a word out, Gerard’s hands were combing through his hair, pulling him closer and kissing him as if it had been months, not a week. Frank felt himself get lost in Gerard’s lips for a minute, before remembering what he had come here to talk about. He knew that if he put it aside for later, things would just get more heated and he would forget completely.

 

“Gerard.” Frank said, pulling away, but was chased down, Gerard making a small noise of disapproval as soon as they separated. “Gee, please, this is important.” Finally, Gerard let him go, confused.

 

“What’s wrong?” Frank felt the panic that had been sitting on his gut all day slowly turn into anger, as he started pacing the room. He couldn’t even figure out what to say, why he was so upset over this. “Frank…?” Gerard asked, sitting down on the bed and patting the blankets beside him.

 

“You can’t do that.” Frank snapped, turning to face Gerard. A look of hurt passed over his face, as he brought his hand to his chest as if it had been burned. “You can’t… I…” Frank felt himself choke, as he sat down on the bed further away from Gerard. If he sat closer, he wouldn’t be able to do this.

 

“You can’t call me. Don’t… Look, okay, I realize this is confusing, but don’t call me. Just don’t, okay? Please?” He was desperate now, and he could hear it in his own voice. “I can’t-” Shaking his head, Frank finally looked up at Gerard. “I can’t have my mom finding out about you, she-” Frank cut himself off again, sighing deeply at the heartbroken look on his boyfriends face.

 

“Why not?” Gerard whispered, quickly turning his gaze to his lap, fiddling with his ink stained fingers. Frank wished that they were still kissing, that he hadn’t had to have this conversation.

 

The room was silent for a couple minutes, until finally, Frank choked out “I’m scared.”. They fell back into silence again, as he shuffled closer to Gerard, who seemed to move farther away the closer he got. “I can’t lose you, but I’m scared she’ll find out and make me leave you, I can’t do that. I couldn’t.” Finally Gerard stopped moving, and Frank was right next to him.

 

“I still love you, I promise.” Leaning forward, he kissed Gerard’s cheek. “We can still text though, okay? Just… If I’m not answering, don’t call me.” Gerard nodded weakly, turning to Frank.

 

“I’m sorr-”

 

“No, no. Don’t apologize. There’s nothing to apologize for, Gee. I’ll… I’ll tell her someday, I promise. I’m just not ready yet.” Gerard still seemed a little out of it, so Frank took his chin in his hands, turning his head to face him. He leaned forward, resting their foreheads together, and looking at the lids of Gerard’s closed eyes. “I love you.” He breathed, and Gerard opened his eyes, staring at him before their lips met again.

 

*-*-*

 

Two years they had been dating now, and Frank still felt panicked whenever his mother brought up dating. He hadn’t found the courage to tell her about Gerard yet, but it had to be soon.

 

They were going to college soon, away from the church that seemed to call Frank’s mom every few weeks asking where Frank had been, away from the people who had tormented Gerard for his art, and being the only out gay guy in school.

 

Being that Frank was in his senior year, he had a lot of work to do, and often found himself staying up until an hour before he had to start getting ready for school a lot of nights. He began forgetting things, but it was okay for a while because everything he did forget was fixable.

 

He had a project due that he had been putting off, and actually fell asleep at his desk while trying to finish it. When he woke up the next morning, he noticed something missing immediately.

 

His phone wasn’t there.

 

_His phone wasn’t fucking there._

 

Bolting awake, Frank stood up, pushing his chair back and looking under his desk, looking for it, hoping that he had knocked it off in his sleep, or something, but he couldn’t find it. It wasn’t anywhere in his room.

 

Running down the stairs, he found his mom sitting at the kitchen table, staring at his phone. She looked up at him, then looked at the chair next to her.

 

Frank sat down.

 

“Frankie-” She started, her voice breaking. “I hope you know that I love you very, very much.” He swallowed past the knot in his throat, and nodded. “And I hope you know that I don’t like to go through your private things, like your phone.” Another nod. “But… This morning, you were just… You looked so tired. So when your alarm went off, I went into your room and turned it off. That’s all I meant to do, I swear.” She wanted him to believe her, desperately so, Frank could tell.

 

“But I saw someone had messaged you, and remembered that boy, Gerard, he usually picks you up for school, so I thought that I would message him and let him know you aren’t going today.” Frank frowned to himself, and looked over at the clock. It was much later than he had thought, school was already close to over.

 

“It took a while, but I figured out your password-you really have to use a different password, Frankie, you’ve been using this one since you were six, you really think I wouldn’t know it?” She chuckled to herself as Frank flushed, looking back at her.

 

“So yes, I saw the texts that you and Gerard had been sending.” Frank felt all of the blood drain from his face, the small smile he had falling immediately.

 

“Mom I-”

 

“Frank, let me finish. I want you to know, that I’m fine with it. I promise, I’ll still love you whether you love a boy or a girl. And I understand why you didn’t tell me sooner, with all the stuff the church probably filled your mind with.” She sighed lightly, shaking her head.

 

“So don’t worry about hiding anymore, okay? I noticed that something was wrong a while ago, but I didn’t want to say anything.” She paused, smiling slyly and Frank was suddenly terrified of her next words. “I invited Gerard over for dinner tonight.”

 

*-*-*

 

The doorbell rang, and Frank shot up from his seat on the couch. He had called Gerard a couple hours earlier to explain the whole situation, but was still extremely nervous. He opened the door, and Gerard sent him a small smile.

 

While it didn’t calm him completely, it helped.

 

“Hey Frankie.” Gerard said softly, walking in. Frank noticed that he had actually showered, and appreciated the effort. He smelled like vanilla. Frank’s mom walked into the front hallway, having heard the doorbell go off, and smiled at Gerard.

 

“Hello Ms. Iero.” Gerard said, smiling back anxiously, and she scoffed.

 

“Linda, please. I might be old, but don’t make me feel like it.” She laughed, and Frank sent Gerard a look that simply said ‘I’m so sorry.’ but was ignored.

 

“Um, my mom said to bring this over?” Gerard said, and reached into the small bag he had, which Frank knew contained his drawing pencils and a notebook. He pulled out a bottle of wine, and Linda reached out for it, looking it over with a grin.  

 

“Thank you! Tell your mom that too. I should probably get back to cooking though.” She then left, and they were alone again.

 

“Nice.” Frank commented, as Gerard stepped closer to him. He glanced towards the kitchen, before pulling Gerard by his coat into the living room, which wasn’t able to be seen from the kitchen.

 

“You look so good.” He breathed, pulling on the ends of Gerard’s hair, hearing the small whimper that escaped his boyfriend’s lips, thankful that it was quiet. Frank knew Gerard liked his hair being pulled, and while he wished he could, it wasn’t a good time for either of them to get turned on.

 

He pressed a chaste kiss to the side of Gerard’s mouth, before pulling away. “Later.” He promised under his breath, receiving a nod in response. “Come with me.” He started to lead Gerard up the stairs, freezing when he heard his mom.

 

“Keep the door open!” Frank felt his face turn red, as he called back an embarrassed “Mom!”. Gerard only laughed for a little while, as he tossed his jacket on the bed.

 

Frank watched for a moment while Gerard leaned back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He looked so perfect, so at peace.

 

He never wanted to leave this moment, this night when everything was okay, everything made sense, finally.

 

The silence was broken when Frank’s mom called them down to dinner, but all of Frank’s nerves were gone. Suddenly, he knew, that everything was going to be fine, even if they had to go through a few rough patches, they would make it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this http://littlekillswitch.tumblr.com/post/113986475786/mychemicaldoodle-if-gerard-and-frank-were
> 
> Written in one day, so apologies for any spelling or grammar mistakes! Point them out and I'll fix it up
> 
> I am putting myself through college rn, so if you have a spare few dollars, maybe toss me a couple bucks for a coffee! http://ko-fi.com/humanwreakage


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